On the Metsi trail a couple of years back I had an interesting (and mentally scarring) final morning.
The night before, with it being the final night of the trail, saw a couple of members of the party 'let their hair down'. This included one of our friends helping himself to a bottle of whiskey over the course of the evening ouch? Indeed!

Being one for rising well before first light, I fumbled for my bino's & my way out of the hut in the dark to get my rocky's on. I then noticed I had a fellow early riser...our whiskey man, naked as the day he was born, thinking it must be the middle of the night & no doubt needing to relieve himself. The light overnight rain had made the wooden decking slippery and it was the cursing accompanying the splat as he landed ar e-first in the mud that caught my attention (my poor eyes.. )

Luckily, the beautiful male lion that strode across the opening infront of the hide but metres from me & barely minutes after I had taken my seat for the morning chorus went someway to erasing the scarring images of a naked middle-aged man in the mud.
The interesting thing...with metsi being so close to the Moz border, we'd seen 3 men in the bush infront of the camp the previous day...right where the Lion was walking to.

Oh, and the response from the whiskey man on the news of the lion's fleeting visit...'well why didn't you come and get me'

I'm beginning to plan a possible trip to Kruger in 2008. My first trip was in late August, and this time I'm thinking of going in March or April in an attempt to see Kruger during a greener season.

My wife and I did the Napi Trail during our last visit; this was the highlight of our trip to southern Africa. We HAVE to do another trail. I would like to do the Sweni trail, but it's always full. I've searched the forums for more information about Metsi-metsi, but there isn't much there.

I'm curious to hear about people's experiences with the Metsi-metsi Trail. I'm wondering how "similar" it is to Sweni. Do you spend a bit of time hiking in the flat savannah near Metsi-metsi, or stay more in the mountains?

The other alternative is to do the Oliphants Backpacking Trail, which I've been dying to do since I've heard about it. While I think it would be cool to do some type of forum trail, at this time I'm not sure exactly when our next trip will be. Stay tuned.

Similar to Sweni in ways , been there for 9 or 10 trails .
At the end of our winter ( Sept / Oct ) there is usually much game around the semi permanent water courses to the east and south east of the camp .
Have seen a lot of plains game at the beginning of our summer towards the northern (lindanda) wilderness area , amazing amounts in many smallish herds . (Viewed in this area a black rhino for about 15 min about 200 metres away without it being aware of us . )
Thus chances of seeing predators ( and most other game ) are good at the right time , but as we know game presence is unpredictable .
At times have seen relatively little , but this probably only means that we werent in the right area .
Generally very good game viewing area .
You may spend time in river courses which run north / south adjacent to camp area , not very many high points , so walking not difficult , lots of level areas .

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

Yes , I have walked 52 trails over a timespan of 22 years , if it was not for a break between 2002 & 2007 my total could have been around 65 .
Have done a few back to back trails , where I could stay in the camp on my own on the Wednesday changeover .
I enjoyed Metsi Metsi the most of all with its hide overlooking the waterhole , but the whole area interests me a lot .
Have come accross a lioness with cubs in a cave along one of the water courses , lion kills , observed a elephant from such close quarters that we could hear the water running from its trunk into its throat , been mock charged from the water by a hippo cow , been observed by lions as we passed within 5 metres of them , seen leopard on 3 occasions in one day , watched hundreds of antelope drinking , while we were hidden behind foliage alongside a river pool 20 metres away ....
Too many fond memories to be able to repeat all .....

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

South eastern Metsi Metsi trails area - last week .Metsi Metsi trails area near N'wamuriwa .

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

Time to revive this one from page 12 before it dissappears - or mods ... is this a duplicate of another Metsi thread ?

Along the Nwatwitsontso towards the eastern boundary .Pretty colours along the Metsi Metsi spruit .

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

SO and I are planning our next trip for september 2011. We very much like to try the Metsi Metsi Trail on. On the map the area looks a bit hilly and we are a little concerned about steep climbing. Is the trail convenient for people like us, with average fysical condition?Any advise is welcome.

We did the Metsi-Metsi September 2009, there are a few hills but if you are in a reasonable condition you will enjoy it. Prepare for about 13 km early morning and about 4 km in the afternoon.

IMO the best of the KRUGER trails.

I participate because I care - CUSTOS NATURAENo to Hotels in and commercialization of our National Parks.No to Legalized Rhino and Lion trade.Done 159 visits to National Parks.What a wonderful privilege.

we did not do any afternoon walks, only the morning walks, one for five hours, one for four hours (January 2010); afternoons were fillled with games drives...I am pretty sure the guides take the fitness of their clients into consideration when putting up their programme

Hi Daffy,We did the Metsi Metsi trail in early October last year. We walked both mornings and took drives in the afternoon to a sundowner spot. The walking was all on the flat so no probs with fitness. We took a 2o minute break for a snack and stopped to look at things along the way. I have included my trip report, the trail starts on page 5. A great experiece with some interesting happenings! Go for!! Enjoy

Not that its about the big 5 only...but we had elephant, lion and rhino all just about on top of us with in 10 mins of each other. Had the guid not sneezed we may very well have stood on a lioness! It was that close!

All the walks are great but the highlights were the gorge area somewhere to the east (although very hilly but worth it) and then climbing down and walking around Orpen Da. with great birds and the vegetation hides so many spots that could potentially have something interesting! Would seriously request this particular walk! Otherwise lots of good game in the area which is generally very flat!

o-dog ! The gorges you refer to - there are a number of parallel running river courses towards the east of the trails area at the foothills of the Lebombo hills , these drain into the Nwatwitsontso river below Orpen dam . In one of these gorges we were forced to retreat when a lioness with tiny cubs holed up in a cave about 6m up the side became aware of our arrival and started growling . We could hear the cubs mewing once they were deprived of their milk when the lioness stood up to investigate .In the dry season , particularly in Sept - Dec - shortly before the first rains of the season - a lot of game tends to congregate in the pools east of Orpen dam - I have seen herds of 200 + common antelope species while we were hiding behind vegetation no further than 50m away , untill one of our group moved position slightly , and they bolted en mass .I have been so close to an elephant which was drinking no more than 30m away from us on the opposite side of a drainage line that I could hear the water running out of its trunk and down its throat .I have had many encounters with bold (in the days that many refugees traversed the area - and became their meals) lions , as well as not so bold ones , exciting hippo encounters , leopard twice in one morning (total 3) ...black rhino sighting for a few minutes at a distance of perhaps 100m ...

Very vivid memories .... a wonderful trail ....

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.